Andy Murray’s post-Wimbledon return came to an abrupt end when he was caught cold by the aggressive play of world No 38 Ernests Gulbis in the third round of the Rogers Cup.
The 26-year-old Scot suffered his first defeat in 13 matches, a sequence going back to the start of the grasscourt season, as he struggled to deal with the relentless slapping of the ball from the other end.
He lost 6-4, 6-3 in 88 minutes in his second match since lifting the trophy at Wimbledon.
This result will cause no panic whatsoever in the Murray camp but it represents a missed opportunity to make up some ground on Novak Djokovic in the rankings as he had scant points to defend from the same event last year.
For Murray it is all about peaking for the US Open that begins two weeks on Monday and he has been training hard this week after taking a fortnight off to absorb his success a month ago.
He could not disrupt the rhythm of one of the game’s biggest baseline groundstrokers, and lost the first set after being broken at 4-5.
He got a time violation early in the second set and could not recover, even after breaking back for 2-3 in the second.
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